Johannesburg (AFP)

South Africa reimposed a national curfew on Sunday after an upsurge in coronavirus cases, and in Spain the Catalan authorities have reconfigured more than 200,000 people, a sign that the pandemic is far from over in Europe.

In the United States, the most heavily affected country, the pandemic continues to flare up, and a debate is raging on the reopening of schools, defended by President Donald Trump but deemed dangerous by his opponents of the Democratic Party.

President Cyril Ramaphosa decided Sunday to reimpose a curfew in South Africa due to the escalation of daily cases of contamination. He noted that an average of 12,000 new cases had been registered every day in recent weeks.

From Monday, the curfew will again be in effect in South Africa from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. local time, and family visits will be prohibited.

Mr. Ramaphosa also decided to suspend the sale of alcohol again. "As we head towards the peak of infections, it is vital that we do not overload our clinics and hospitals with preventable alcohol-related injuries," the president said on television.

- Restrictions reinstated -

The restrictions imposed in March to try to stem the epidemic in this country, the most affected in Africa, were partially lifted in May. South Africa has so far registered 264,184 cases of coronavirus, of which 3,971 have been fatal.

In Spain, for the first time since the end of the confinement declared on June 21, more than 200,000 people will be reconfigured at their home in order to fight against a strong rebound in the cases of Covid-19.

The region concerned is located around the town of Lleida, in Catalonia, about a hundred kilometers from the very touristy beaches of the Catalan coast.

"The population will have to stay at home" from midnight local time, announced Sunday the regional head of health, Alba Verges.

Spain is not the only country in Europe where restrictive measures are taken: Hungary will ban Tuesday nationals of African and South American countries, most Asian countries and some European countries.

- "Preserve our security" -

"We must protect our security so that the virus is not introduced from abroad. The infection rate at home is falling and we want to keep it that way," the Prime Minister's chief of staff told the press on Sunday. Hungarian Minister Viktor Orban.

In the United States, contaminations continue to increase rapidly, particularly in large southern states, and an official of the Ministry of Health in Washington said Sunday that a reconfiguration in these areas was not excluded.

"Everything should be considered," said Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health, when asked about ABC television. "We are all very concerned about the increase in the number of cases," he said.

The United States, which is by far the country most heavily affected by the pandemic, on Sunday recorded 59,747 new infections in 24 hours, according to the daily report of the Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed cases stands at 3,301,820 and the number of deaths at 135,171.

The issue of reopening schools, which depends on local authorities, has become a subject of political controversy more, four months before the presidential election which will pit Donald Trump against the Democratic candidate, former vice-president Joe Biden.

- Political controversy -

"I urge all schools to open and offer full-time courses to their students," Education Minister Betsy DeVos said on CNN on Sunday, relaying Donald Trump's position.

"They are playing with the health of our children," said Democrat Nancy Pelosi, president of the House of Representatives.

Latin America also has very large daily reports. Mexico became the fourth country on Sunday in terms of death ahead of Italy. "There are 299,750 confirmed cases of contamination and 35,006 deaths in Mexico," Mexican health officials said on Twitter.

Argentina, it, crossed the threshold of 100,000 contaminations on Sunday and has a total of 1,845 deaths.

Bolivia, which has only 11 million inhabitants, is also seeing rapid progression of the disease, with 47,200 infections and 1,754 deaths. Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Añez and four ministers are infected.

The Middle East and the Middle East are relatively spared from the pandemic for the moment. Iran is the most affected country in the region with more than 12,829 deaths recorded for 257,303 cases, according to the official report on Sunday.

The pandemic has killed more than 566,000 people worldwide since the World Health Organization (WHO) office in China reported the onset of the disease in late December.

burx-plh / roc

© 2020 AFP